Star Wars: The Shadow of The Republic
by Roughdragon
Summary: Witness a revolution in the making. Please leave feedback for this story.
1. Chapter 1

A hooded figure walked in the busy streets of coruscant, looking for his target. He should be near here by now. There. He saw a human male walking into an alley. The hooded figure followed him into the alley and turned to look behind him to make sure no one was following. "Okay," he muttered. He was not usually this tense, but a thousand credits was worth being careful for. He followed the human into his home.

"Damn," he thought. It was dark in the house. He switched on the night vision on his goggles, and looked around. He heard walking upstairs. He pulled out his custom slugthrower pistol and fitted a silencer. He crept up the stairs, not wanting to make a sound. When he finally got to the top of the stairs, the light was on so he turned his nightvision off. What he saw chilled him to the bone. The human was there, but he was facing him, and he had a red lightsaber in his hand.

"Shit," he thought. Lighsabers were among the deadliest weapons in the galaxy, and can cut flesh as easily as it cut butter.

"So," the human said. "I'm assuming that you are after the bounty on my head. Did you think that a thousand credits would come so easily? The many bounty hunters before you must have thought it was, before I killed them."

The hooded man backed away slowly, not making any sudden movements.

"Where did you get that lightsaber?" asked the hooded man.

"Oh, I simply stole it," bragged the human. "I have heard that it cuts flesh quite easily, but you are about to find out firsthand, like the rest of your bounty hunter friends."

The hooded man backed into the darkness, drawing a pure cortosis blade.

"What? I can see you drawing your sword there. You want to fight against me and my lightsaber with your sword? Are you joking? Ok, bring it on then."

The human ran at him with the lightsaber, swinging it wildly. The hooded man ducked under one of the swings, and when the man pulled back for another swing, he raised the cortosis blade into a defensive position. The man swung the lightsaber, smiling with maniacal glee. The lightsaber struck the blade, short circuited, and shut down. The man's look of complete surprise turned into pain as the hooded man stabbed him in the chest with the blade.

"Who... are... you...?" gurgled the dying man.

"For the last few moments of your pathetic life, you can call me Shadow."

Shadow grabbed the lightsaber, and examined it. It had a curved hilt, unlike most lightsabers. Wow. He could sell this for quite a lot of credits, if he met the right buyer. He turned his head as he heard footsteps outside the door. Oh great, police droids. Shadow ran back upstairs, found a window, and escaped through it.

Shadow flew his ship to Coruscant's underworld, the crime ridden area of Coruscant. He made it off of his ship and walked to the chosen bar where he would meet his client. He sat down at one of the seats in the back and waited. Eventually, a pale, bald lady walked over to him and sat down. Shadow was tense. There was something about this woman that he felt uneasy about. She was slim, and wore purplish robes and had some of what looked like armor on her shoulder.

"It's been taken care of?" asked the woman.

"Yes," said Shadow.

"I need proof that you followed through with it," said the woman.

"What proof?"

The lady sat up straighter and leaned forward.

"This man stole one of my lightsabers from me. Don't lie, I know you have it. Give it to me and you will have your bounty, or I can just kill you right here."

Shadow moved his hand towards the cortosis blade slowly, not wanting the woman to see him do it.

"Well I tried searching his house, but the lightsaber wasn't there. He must have hidden it someplace else or sold it."

The woman seemed to be angry for a moment, but then she immediately calmed down.

"Fine then," she said. Like lightning, she grabbed her other lightsaber and swiped at him. He knew he couldn't draw his cortosis blade fast enough, and instead he ducked down, narrowly getting his head severed. He leaped out of the seat and started running towards the exit. All of a sudden he was floating, and saw that the woman was using the force to hold him in the air. He could still move though, so he grabbed his pistol and shot at the woman, the bullet striking her armor and making her lose concentration. He fell from the air, landed, turned, and ran out as fast as he can. He wondered then, how much would the Jedi or the government of Coruscant pay him if he told them that there was a Sith in their midst? A lot maybe, but not as much as a black market dealer would pay for a lightsaber. He knew some places that would happily buy or sell dangerous things like a lightsaber. He found a dealer and showed him the lightsaber. The dealer was a Twi'lek, and was looking at the lightsaber with greedy eyes. Shadow turned on the lightsaber, the red light illuminating the alley. The dealer's face turned to fear.

"I can't have a red lightsaber with me!" he exclaimed. "The Jedi will come after me!"

Shadow tried to convince him otherwise, but it was no use. The dealer was adamant, and wanted him gone. Fine. Shadow walked back to his ship, and flew back up to his room in the tenements. He walked in and shut the door behind him. He wondered what he would do with the lightsaber. He could keep it, use it as a weapon, since his cortosis blade needed repair. He kept thinking when the door of his room flew open and two figures in yellow robes walked in, with yellow double bladed lightsabers in their hands.

"Sith," one of them said.

"Wait, what?" Shadow was confused, as he didn't know why they would think he was a Sith.

They both attacked him at once, attacking with incredible strength and skill. Shadow pulled out his cortosis blade and the stolen lightsaber. He jumped over one of the strikes, and blocked another. He jumped to the far side of the room, and got his bearings. If he can disable their lightsabers with the cortosis blade, then he can strike back.

One of the yellow robed men saw the blade and whispered to his partner. They both became more careful, and tried to keep an eye on the cortosis blade. One of them stabbed at Shadow, aiming for his leg. Shadow deflected the blow with a sweep of his lightsaber. The other one tried to stab at his head, but Shadow swiped at the lightsaber with the cortosis blade. The blade hit the lightsaber and short circuited it. The man payed no attention to his lightsaber and tried to throw things at him using the Force. Shadow was overwhelmed; He was both fighting with the man who still had a lightsaber and blocking objects thrown at him by the other man. This had to end. Shadow dived under the stream of objects being thrown at him and stabbed the yellow robed man in the abdomen. The man screamed, then fell to the floor, dying. The other man threw a flurry of strikes at Shadow, who barely dodged and weaved under all of them. Shadow hit one of the blows with the cortosis blade, but the worst thing happened: The blade shattered. The man's lightsaber was shut down for the moment, but the cortosis blade was destroyed, useless. He lunged forward with his lightsaber, and swung the stolen lightsaber at the man. The lightsaber sliced the man's head clean off, which rolled a little bit, the stopped. Shadow wondered who these men were, why they thought he was a Sith. He knew he had a red lightsaber, but he didn't remember the last time he switched it on. He needed to get out of here. Soon the Jedi will be after him.


	2. Chapter 2

Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi were at the bottom floor of a tenement building in Coruscant, investigating the murder of two Jedi Sentinels.

"So a lightsaber killed them?" asked Anakin.

"Yes," said the detective droid. "And according to the cortosis shards on the ground the attacker was using a cortosis weapon."

"Cortosis?" said Obi Wan. "Weapons made of cortosis are extremely rare, and i'm pretty sure that no one knows where to actually get cortosis."

"Well apparently the attacker did," said Anakin. "And its probably how the assailant was able to kill these Sentinels, since cortosis disables lightsabers."

"Well whoever it is, we need to find the murderer before another Jedi dies," said Obi Wan.

"One of the Sentinels had scanned the records of the assailant's ship before they went into the house. A very frequented area of the suspect is Tatooine. Here, I'll give you the records."

The droid gave Obi Wan the records, and he nodded.

"Looks like our suspect has a home on Tatooine," said Obi Wan.

"Looks like I have no choice but to go," grumbled Anakin.

**Tatooine**

The Shadow had arrived on Tatooine. With no money. Great. He headed to his home, near some slave owners who were herding their new slaves along. Shadow did nothing but watch, as this was a common sight on Tatooine. He crossed the road ad headed into his home. His wife and son were waiting inside, expecting money or food. They got nothing. Shadow shook his head as he walked in, letting them know that the bounty was unsuccessful. Their faces changed from hope to disappointment in an instant. They depended on Shadow to keep them alive, and Shadow depended on them to keep his sanity. Without them, he would probably

"I'm sorry, I couldn't finish the bounty, the client tried to kill me. I need to go to look for another bounty in a little bit."

"No, it's fine," said his wife, Tendra.

Shadow looked at his wife. He tried to show no emotion, but his wife always made him feel like he had flies in his stomach. He loved her as well as his son, Kel, who he hoped would move from Tatooine to someplace that was less... threatening. He placed his broken cortosis blade on a table, loaded his weapons, then turned to leave. As he left, his son spoke.

"Father, will we starve today?" asked Kel.

Shadow hoped not. He knew bounties were being taken quickly on Tatooine, and needed to go quickly.

"No, you won't," Shadow said.

Asajj Ventress stepped out of one of the alleys near the Shadow's house. She hoped she could find her lightsaber, and if not, she would kill him.

She waited for him to leave the building, then she got out of her cover and walked in. She entered the shabby building and saw a woman and a boy. They both looked at her curiously.

"My lightsaber," she said. "Where is it?"

The woman and boy looked at her blankly again. _Enough of this, _she thought. She drew her remaining lightsaber and pointed it at the woman. The woman's look changed instantly, and she drew a blaster from her tattered dress and shot at Ventress. Ventress wasn't expecting it, and deflected the blaster shot without thinking. To Ventress's horror, the bolt deflected off her lightsaber and hit the boy in the chest. The boy cried out in pain and fell to the ground, not moving. The woman cried out, and ran screaming at Ventress. Ventress had no choice but to kill her too. So she stabbed her in the neck, silencing her.

Anakin and Obi Wan had arrived on Tatooine, and were following the coordinates set on the records.

"It's right there," said Obi Wan, pointing at a dusty building.

"Get your lightsaber ready," said Anakin. "If the assailant can kill two Jedi Sentinels, who knows what will happen."

They walked through the entrance and saw a horrible sight. A woman and a boy were on the ground, dead.

"What happened here?" asked Anakin.

The boy seemed to die by a blaster shot, and thee woman was stabbed in her neck by a lightsaber.

"No Sith uses a blaster, unless–" Obi Wan was cut off by a cry at the entrance. Obi Wan and Anakin turned to see a man dressed in black combat gear and a hood.

"What did you do?!" The man cried out mournfully. "My wife... and son..." The man seemed to calm a little. He lowered his voice to a threatening tone and said: "I'll kill you."

The man pulled out a lightsaber. The red glow illuminated the entrance of the home. He ran at them, intending to kill. He swung at Anakin, and Anakin blocked the attack. The force of the blow staggered Anakin. The man turned around and swung full force at Obi Wan. Obi wan ducked, and the man was thrown off balance. The man recovered, and swung at Obi Wan again, and connected with his lightsaber. Obi Wan barely blocked it, and was thrown to the ground by the sheer force of the strike. The man turned and kicked Anakin in the stomach, stunning him. The man grabbed a gun from his waist, and shot at Obi Wan. The sound was deafening. He was using a slugthrower. Obi Wan blocked the slugs, vaporizing the bullets. The man was going berserk, striking Anakin's lightsaber multiple times. He eventually got so enraged that he actually drew back his fist and punched Anakin, stunning him. At this rate, Obi Wan and Anakin couldn't defeat him.

"Anakin, fall back!" Obi Wan yelled. He ran out of the building, followed by Anakin. Anakin force pushed the man back, knocking him into the wall. Obi Wan and Anakin had made it to the ship, but the man came out shooting at them with an automatic slugthrower. The bullets pelted the ship, but Anakin and Obi Wan lifted off and flew away, off to get reinforcements.


	3. Chapter 3

Shadow was kneeling beside the grave he had just dug for his murdered wife and son. He would kill those two Jedi– no, he will kill every single Jedi in that damned temple. If he could just find a way...

**Coruscant**

"We think that we have found the suspect of the killing," said Obi Wan. "He was on Tatooine, and apparently his family was killed, since he went crazy when he saw us at the scene of their murder."

"Hmm, and his lightsaber," said Yoda. "What color was it?"

"It was red," said Obi Wan. "He never used the force, however, and resorted to using a slugthrower instead."

"A bounty hunter then," said Mace Windu. "He must have gotten lucky and stolen a Sith's lightsaber. If that is the case, then he should succumb to force powers quite easily."

"We would have done that, but we were so close together that a force push would have launched me or Anakin, along with the bounty hunter, a risk we couldn't take."

"We came here to report to you about how we found him, but we need some backup if we will actually be able to defeat him. We'll need some Commandos."

**Tatooine**

Shadow was a weapons expert, and among other things knew how to make custom ammo for different targets. He knew that the Jedi were going to bring Clones, or Commandos. He hoped it wasn't Commandos, since they had super dense armor and superior training. He brought his suppressed sniper rifle. He set it up on a nearby building. He loaded ammo that specialized in taking down armored targets. The round would impact the armor, then an explosive charge inside will propel a smaller projectile within the bullet to then blow through the armor. As soon as it was loaded, he went down to his window. He had set up a 20mm autocannon, which would fire on targets that carried blasters. The ammo on the shells it fired were made to pierce armor just like the sniper. He set up a couple more around his home. Finally, he loaded his pistol with bullets tipped with cortosis from the broken blade, which was how he aimed to disable the Jedi's lightsaber. He saw a Republic Cruiser descending from orbit as he finished loading all of the weapons. This was going to be interesting.

Anakin and Obi Wan were riding down on a gunship, but suddenly, it was bombarded by cannon fire. There were shells that hit one of the engines, and the ship started spiraling down. As soon as they crashed, the Commandos rushed out and tried to take cover in the debris. A few unlucky clones were picked off by the shells that were still flying through the air.

"Where did he get all of these guns?" Obi Wan yelled.

"Doesn't matter, we just need to take them out," said Anakin.

"You see anything?" asked one of the Commandos.

"Yea, the fire is coming from the nearby houses. We need some rockets."

One of the Commandos lifted a rocket launcher, and was then shot by a slug.

"Damn it," said Anakin.

Another one of the clones picked it up and shot the rocket into the building, caving in the bottom. It went up in flames and collapsed. There were now two turrets left. The clone reloaded, but then was shot as he finished.

"Sniper!" shouted one of the clones. He barely finished his sentence when he was also shot.

"It's him," said Obi Wan.

He pointed to a nearby building. There was a silhouette on top of it.

"Shoot that building!" shouted Obi Wan.

The clone picked up the launcher, aimed, and fired. The rocket spiraled through the air, and impacted the building, which came tumbling down. The turrets had also shut off.

"Nice shot," Anakin said to the clones. They ran to the collapsed building, where they saw Shadow laying amongst the rubble, unconscious.

"Take him," said Obi Wan.

The clones picked up Shadow and took him to the ship. In theory, he would be taken to Coruscant for interrogation, then put on trial for his crimes.

Shadow woke up. He was being carried by some clones, probably to the medical bay for a diagnosis of his wounds, of which there were few, since his armor took a lot of the damage. He checked the hidden compartment in his armor where he kept his pistol. It was still there. The clones set him on the medical table and waited for a medical droid. Shadow waited, and waited. When the clones' guards were down, he whipped out his pistol and shot both of them in the neck. The suppressed gun made almost no sound as it fired. Both of the clones fell down, dying. He looked outside the door, and there was no one outside but a few bystanders. He slipped one of the clone's armor on and dragged the bodies out of sight. He grabbed one of the blasters and walked outside. He made it away from the medical bay and was stopped by two clones.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be protecting the prisoner?" one asked.

"I switched shifts with another clone," said Shadow.

"Let me see–"

The ship shook and a hole opened up where the medical bay was. A hook was inside the ship, and droids started pouring in.

"Droids!" yelled the clone. "Run! We need to tell–"

The clone was then shot by a droid and collapsed. Shadow shot at the droids skillfully, picking them off one by one. More clones came to his aid, but were all gunned down by the increasing amount of droids. Shadow picked up a grenade and threw it into the crowd of droids. They exploded, leaving a burn mark on the ground. Then, a white droid appeared. It moved more fluidly than a droid could, and had two dark, sunken eyes. It towered over Shadow in the clone armor, and was flanked by two menacing guard droids carrying electric staffs.

"Tell me where the Jedi are, clone, and I will kill you swiftly."

He wished he knew where the Jedi were, not because he was afraid of dying, but because he wanted the Jedi to pay for what they did. Even so, he would not let this robot intimidate him.

"Screw off," said Shadow.

Instead of killing him, the white droid pulled out a... Lightsaber! Even more surprising, the droid tossed the lightsaber to Shadow. He grabbed it out of the air, and then the white droid pulled out two of his own lightsabers, blue and green. Shadow activated his, and a blue blade shot up from the hilt.

"Let us see how well a clone can fight," the droid said. He then started laughing, or coughing. He swung the blue blade at Shadow, and he ducked under the light. Shadow countered with an underhand swing, catching the droid off guard with his strength, stumbling him.

"Well, looks like you are not a worthless piece of waste, but still waste," said the droid. He was going to continue, but Shadow stabbed at him without letting him finish his speech. The droid was again caught off guard, and Shadow had cut off his left arm. The droid screamed, and started charging at Shadow. All of a sudden, he was thrown back at the wall of droids behind him.

"Clone, get back!" yelled a voice behind him. Obi Wan came running towards the white droid, followed by Anakin and an orange girl who carried two lightsabers. The white droid ran back through the hole in the ship and back into his own ship. He took off into the void of space. The three Jedi cut down the rest of the droids easily. After that, they saw him.

"Clone, you do know that was General Grievous, right?" said Anakin.

Shadow didn't know the legacy of Grievous, and agreed with a simple nod.

"I would tell you that you should have run, but you handled yourself well against one of the deadliest fighters in the galaxy," said Obi Wan.

"Wasn't gonna give up this area," Shadow lied. It took him all of his willpower not to lash out at them right now, after what they had done to him.

"Well, after what you did, I think that you have a promotion coming your way," said Anakin.

Shadow did what he assumed a clone would do– he stood straight and said: "Thank you sir." As the words spewed out of his mouth, he tried not to gag. He was thanking the killers of his family? He had to; They would kill him if they knew who he was. He would get his revenge though, once he caught them off guard.

"Well, lets go then," said the orange girl.


	4. Pioneers of the Revolution

Shadow was still disguised in his clone armor, and had been promoted to an ARC trooper for his actions on the ship. He was not proud of the award, since the Jedi had bestowed it upon him, but it helped him get closer to the Jedi, so it would make it easier to kill them, or at least Obi Wan and Anakin. After he had been promoted, his initial fury and rage against the Jedi had... subsided. He was no longer psychopathically angry at the Jedi as a whole, but Obi Wan and Anakin had to die. He thought about his new clone identity. His clone name was Jac, and he was based in Kamino at the moment, and was supposed to wait for an order to deploy to some high risk mission or something like that. He was on the outer perimeter, avoiding other clones or staff. He looked up, and saw something. A dot in the sky. Invisible to the naked eye, but he turned the zoom on in his helmet and looked closer. It was a warship. He saw more dots, with fire trailing them. The dots were debris, but there was something wrong with their shape. They were too symmetrical. They came down and landed in the ocean near the cloning facility.

He got his blaster ready, and waited. Other clones were busy running into the facility to protect the cloning labs; He was alone. He waited even longer, and then a octopus-like ship reared up onto the side of the platform he was on. The bottom of the ship opened up, and a line of droids popped out. Shadow immediately threw a grenade at them, killing half of them. He finished the rest of them off with one shot each. He looked to his right and saw another few sea droids deploy more battle and super battle droids. He did nothing. He cared nothing for these clones, he only defended himself when it was necessary. He didn't hate the clones, he was almost sympathetic for them. They were made for no other purpose other than to fight. After their fighting was done, they simply grow old and die faster than regular humans. He decided to stay up at his perch and take potshots at the passing droids so he wouldn't look suspicious by just standing and doing nothing. He saw a few clones heading up to where he was at.

"Hey, Jac!" said one of them. "Let's hold off these clankers!" The clone started shooting at the droids, and so did the others. Shadow started firing at the droids too, dispatching them with great efficiency. The droids started firing back, and the clones that had shown up to help him had soon started falling. Shadow threw some droid poppers at the advancing army of droids, disabling a whole bunch of them. More of the clones were dying by the second by the swarm of red. Shadow knew he might be next, and ducked under cover. He started pulling grenades and poppers from fallen clones and started blindly throwing them over the cover and to the droids. Debris showered him, almost burying him. He looked up, and saw more reinforcements, and a Jedi Padawan. She was the same one he saw the other day, the orange girl. She, along with some more clones, rushed the droids, the clones shooting and clobbering them with their guns, and the girl slashing at the droids with her lightsabers. Shadow stood back and sniped the remaining droids. The orange girl, Ahsoka Tano, turned around with a smile.

"Good job holding off those droids," said Ahsoka.

"Couldn't have done it without them," said Shadow, and gestured to the fallen clones. He wasn't just saying it to sound like any other clone, but he knew that if it weren't for these clones, he might have been killed by the droids. He actually felt a twinge of pity for these clones, who had just been sent to die. He joined up with Ahsoka's clone squad, and continued on to eliminate the remaining droids.

After hours of fighting, they had finally driven all of the droids out of Kamino. Shadow and some of the other ARC troopers were given almost no break, and were repositioned in Coruscant, to look for any Separatist activity. The reason for this was that since the Separatists attacked Kamino, it was only a matter of time before they launched an offensive against Coruscant. The ARC troopers were dropped off in separate locations, each working by themselves to seek any groups that were plotting against the Republic. Shadow had a different agenda. He knew that there were many anti-Republic groups in the undercity, and that most of them were disorganized and could do nothing to the Republic in their current state. They needed a leader. Shadow knew some weaknesses in the Republic army, thanks to his limited time in the ARC troopers. He knew that many people in the underworld despised the people above, and he only needed to get them all to band together. He fixed posters on the walls of bars and alleyways. He hoped that the police didn't show up, but it was a risk he was going to take. On the posters was a nickname of the location that only people who live in the undercity know. Any authorities or ARC trooper operators will be misled.

Shadow was standing on the end of a large room at a podium. People were filing in. Shadow looked around him these were people of many different races and species, sharing a common cause. By the next hour, the building was filled with a hundred or so people.

As soon as people stopped filing in, Shadow spoke.

"Everyone, I thank you for coming here. We are all tired of the way the Republic has treated us for generations. Now, I know you are all different in appearance, but we must put racial issues aside and band together, for we all share a common interest: The replacement of the Republic. They keep their friends and accomplices up on the surface to live a pleasant, effortless life. Let me ask you my friends, how many times have you had to beg for food, money, or even your own life? How many times have you been taken advantage of by mobs and gangs? How much of your _family _have you lost? The surface dwellers have to deal with none of these hardships. They simply pass off their work to you, the masses. The Jedi kill anyone who dares stand against the Republic and its interests without mercy or thought. They will happily kill your wife and child if it meant that it will give them a pay raise!"

Shadow yelled the last phrase, remembering his wife and son, who were buried on Tatooine.

"Do you want to stand for this betrayal? Do want to continue to be treated like sub-species, like the poor souls in the lowermost levels, who have lost so much that they have turned into savages? Or do you want to act, and make a difference? Do you want to finally be able to go to sleep at night without the worry of being murdered in your sleep? The choice is yours. After this, you must spread the message, and tell everyone to meet in this same building tomorrow. A revolution is in the making, my friends, and you are the pioneers."

Everyone cheered and clapped, shouting, "Revolution!" or "Down with the Jedi!" or "Down with the Republic!" Shadow had done his job. Now he had to wait till tomorrow.


	5. Revelation

Shadow was in the same building as yesterday, and stood on the same podium. His message had surely spread, since there was over a thousand people in this large building. He was lucky that the ARC clones hadn't noticed yet, but they will soon enough. He had to get this over quickly.

"Again, thank you for coming to jumpstart this uprising. I am sure your friends have explained to you our current situation, with the corrupt Republic binding us to this wretched place. But today, I am here to give you instruction to carry out this revolution successfully. There is over a thousand of you in here, and we all have a purpose. No doubt you all have weapons of your own, for how would you be able to survive here if you didn't? Our meeting has surely drawn suspicion from the Republic by now, and they may be sending clones or Jedi to us right now. When they come, kill those bastards and steal their ships. After that, ride up to the surface, then storm the palace. Spare no one. Kill anyone who gets in your way, whether it be a man, woman, child, or Jedi. Remember, they are responsible for your suffering. When your fellow citizens here in the undercity see you finally fighting back against the oppressive government, they will join you, and we will number by the ten, twenty, hundred thousands! No one will stop us. We will take Coruscant and establish a new government, the government of the people. Now go, and remember, we are the pioneers of the revolution."

Everyone cheered for a while, whistling, clapping, and jumping. After it subsided, they filed out of the building, going back to their homes, hungry for blood.

**Coruscant, upper levels**

"Hey, has anyone heard from Jac?" said a clone over the intercom.

"No, where did he go?"

"Last I heard, he was in the undercity."

"Alright, let's go."

Two ARC clones climbed into a ship that took them to the lower levels of Coruscant, where lowlives, gangs, and criminals lived. As they reached their destination, they stepped off the ferry and walked through the streets of the undercity. It seemed... strange. A lot of the residents were staring at them, most with anger in their eyes.

"I don't have a good feeling about this," said one of the clones.

Out of nowhere, a voice called out, "Revolution!" and a blaster shot clipped the clone in the shoulder, knocking him down.

A dozen more rang out, both blasters and slugthrowers.

The clones took cover behind a building, and the one with the injured arm spoke into his intercom.

"Incoming fire! In the undercity!"

Anakin Skywalker heard the intercom on his transmitter, which broadcasted to all channels, clone and Jedi alike. Anakin looked over to the undercity entrance, which was about a kilometer away.

_Oh no,_ he thought. There were people riding the ferries up the undercity and onto the surface. There were thousands of them, and more coming. He and other Jedi and clones ran to help defend the palace from attack.

_What the hell caused this? _He thought. He had no time to think though, as Obi Wan and Ahsoka were with him, and were running ahead to the front line. He saw the approaching wall of people, all firing their weapons. The clones all armed their blasters, and set up rapid firing heavy blasters that faced the approaching wave.

Shadow was sitting up on a building, carrying his slugthrower sniper rifle. He set up on the roof of his old apartment, where he killed the two Sentinels, which was situated next to the Republic front line. He zoomed in with the scope, and aimed it at the clones that were setting up the machine guns. He waited until the wall of people came close enough, and fired a bullet at the joint of one of the guns. The gun became severely unbalanced, and fell over. Clones took cover, thinking the bullet was from one of the approaching crowd. The three Jedi were not so easily fooled, unfortunately. They looked directly at where Shadow was at, and started to run towards him.

"Damn it," he muttered. He had no choice, he had to fight them. He loaded his pistol with Cortosis tipped ammo, and made his way down towards them. He met them in a courtyard, away from the main battle. He faced all three of them, lightsaber and pistol in each hand.

"You again?" said Anakin. "I thought you died when the ship was attacked!"

"I didn't die, as you can see, but my wife and child died. You Jedi have a thing for killing innocents, yes?"

"No, absolutely not," said Ahsoka. "Jedi don't kill innocents!"

"Then tell me why my loved ones are dead."

"We didn't kill your loved ones. We don't know who did, unfortunately," said Obi Wan.

"Unfortunately? Don't lie to me. I saw you over their bodies, gloating!" cried Shadow, and he charged forward. The Jedi were not expecting it, and he rammed into Obi Wan, sending him sprawling to the ground. He activated his lightsaber, the blade glowing red. He swung it at Anakin, but it was blocked, and Anakin swung back, hitting Shadow's arm and damaging his armor. Shadow yelled, and shot at Anakin with his gun. Anakin blocked it by instinct, and his lightsaber went out.

"What...?" he didn't have time to react when Shadow shot at him again, hitting him in the hip. Anakin screamed in pain and went down, clutching his wounded waist. Shadow turned to Ahsoka, and shot at her. She dodged the bullets this time, and launched herself at Shadow, spinning her lightsabers. He tried to block it, but was overwhelmed by the speed of the swings, and was hit in the leg armor. He growled, and launched a relentless counterattack, swinging with his lightsaber and shooting at her with his gun. Eventually, she instinctively blocked some of the Cortosis bullets, and her lightsabers went out. She was prepared this time though, and force pushed him into a nearby building, knocking the wind out of him. He saw her running out of the courtyard as he was trying to get up. He didn't care. He just wanted to kill Anakin and Obi Wan. He walked towards Obi Wan, who was still knocked out. He deactivated his lightsaber and took out his combat knife. He was going to gut him.

"Wait," said the wounded Anakin, who was still on the ground, clutching his bleeding wound. "Kill me, not him."

"Why does it matter? I'm going to kill you both anyways, so it doesn't matter what order I do it in."

"I recognize your lightsaber," said Anakin between breaths. "It's Asajj Ventress's lightsaber. She probably wants to get it back from you. She probably killed your wife and son."

"How do you know her?" asked Shadow.

"I'm Jedi, she's Sith, we've fought before. I know that she will stop at nothing to get her lightsaber back. She has an animal like temper. If she went into your house, and found nothing but your wife and son, she surely would have killed them."

Realization struck Shadow like a sledgehammer. That woman in the bar. The one who almost killed him. She was the one. Rage reignited within Shadow like a bonfire. He had to get back to his ship. He had to find her. He felt a mighty push, and was thrown into a nearby wall. He got up, and saw a multitude of lightsabers. He tried to fire at them, but the gun was wrenched out of his hand and lifted into the air behind the group of Jedi. He was surrounded. He equipped his lightsaber and braced himself. He saw a lightsaber flash in his peripheral vision, and blocked it with a swing. He saw another, and blocked it. As he did, another swung, and clipped his leg. He cried out in pain, and another stabbed him through his left arm, causing it to go limp. He tried valiantly to block the other lightsaber strikes, but the mass amount of attacks being thrown at him overwhelmed him, and he was being hit in the chest, his arms, his legs, his back, then after a couple more, he was down, barely breathing. He tried his hardest to get up, but his arm was kicked, sending him back down again.

"Should we take his prisoner?" asked a man with an elongated head.

"No," said a black Jedi, who carried a purple lightsaber. "He will just break out of containment again. Leave him to die, he's done enough damage."

"Status on the rebels?" asked another Jedi.

"We took care of them, barely. They almost got through, but we brought out tanks and bombers. After that, it was done."

"Good."

"Get Anakin and Obi Wan to the hospital, and leave this piece of filth here to die."

Shadow was still barely breathing trying to stay conscious, but soon blacked out, and felt nothing.


	6. Revitalization

In the middle of a forgotten courtyard, a body lay barely alive, hanging by half a thread. The body had been mortally wounded, his arm almost cut off, his legs mutilated by lightsabers, his torso badly wounded. Despite this, he woke. He tried to push himself up with his good arm, and managed to get on one mangled knee. After a few minutes, he was able to stand without falling over. He dragged himself out of his forgotten grave and onto an empty street. He looked over a railing and saw the aftermath of a tremendous battle; piles of bodies being lifted onto ships and taken to wherever they went. The half dead man was then struck with his own memory. He remembered. The revolution, the fight with the Jedi, being struck down, and Ventress. He remembered. She was the one who killed his family, not the Jedi. He needed to get to his ship and head to Tatooine. He could fix himself there.

**The Jedi Temple**

Anakin Skywalker was being treated for his bullet wound in his hip. The pain was unlike any blaster wound, which cauterized the wound immediately, causing minimal bleeding. A bullet was different. There was a lot of bleeding. He almost bled out because the medical droids didn't have much to repair bullet wounds, since slugthrowers were rare.

"Hey master, how you feeling?" asked Ahsoka, who just walked into the room.

"Good, just that the bullet fragmented when it hit my hip. The medical droid already took the shrapnel out though, so I should be fine in an hour or two."

Anakin then looked out of the window. "Honestly, Ahsoka, I've been thinking about that man lately. He was going to kill me, but I told him that Ventress killed his family, then something seemed to click in his head. He actually started to run away, but then he was ambushed by you guys."

"Even if he was misled, he was dangerous," said Ahsoka. "He sparked a revolt just so he could kill you and Obi Wan."

"I know," said Anakin. "But can you blame him? His only family is dead, and so is he. He must have realized that he was going to die without his revenge, which must have been miserable for him."

Obi Wan burst into the room with Captain Rex.

"Anakin, he's gone!" Obi Wan said loudly.

"Who's gone?" asked Ahsoka.

"The man who almost killed us yesterday in the courtyard," said Obi Wan. "We decided to send a team there to dispose of the body, but he was gone!"

_This is not good, _thought Anakin.

"We all saw him die yesterday, how could he possibly be alive?" asked Anakin.

"I don't know, but if he is still alive he is a dangerous threat, and we need to find him before he does more damage to the Republc."

"Alright, lead the way," said Anakin.

**Tatooine**

Shadow had a very difficult time patching himself up, and often had to resort to replacing some parts of his body with mechanical parts, including his half-severed arm. In the end though, Shadow was able to fully recover, give or take a few chunks of metal. He surprisingly still had Ventress's lightsaber. Maybe the Jedi forgot to take it when he was passed out. He still had his weapons, but he knew that he needed heavier duty weapons and armor to be able to fight a Jedi or most of all, Ventress. He put his slug pistol down and lifted his automatic rifle, which shot either hollow tip or armor piercing rounds; Perfect for either lightsaber wielding enemies, who wore no armor, or armored opponents. He used some old electronics and spare parts to make some basic EMP burst grenades. He used some more spare parts to make makeshift armor for himself, which he made angular so that blaster shots would deflect more often. After he was finished, he went back to his ship and flew into Separatist controlled space, where he would try to obtain information on the location or Ventress.

**Coruscant**

Anakin and Obi Wan were climbing onto a civilian ship to try and follow the man's whereabouts. They brought only themselves, as they planned to get to Separatist space without being suspicious.

"Ahsoka, I need you to go to the Undercity and see where the rebels are gathering. They won't notice you as a Jedi as long as you don't draw your lightsaber, so don't do that. After you locate their gathering spot, head back up and relay the coordinates to Captain Rex."

"Ok, Master," said Ahsoka, and she started toward the ferries that led to the Undercity.

"Alright, Anakin, so how will we find this man?" asked Obi Wan.

"I know he's looking for Ventress, so we go to the Outer Rim."

"It seems pretty dangerous, but it may be the only way to find him," said Obi Wan.

"Alright then, lets go!" said Anakin, and they lifted off.

**Malevolence**

Shadow knew that General Grievous was the head of the droid army, and he was the closest to Tatooine at the moment, so he had entered Grievous's ship at gunpoint after landing in the hangar. He saw dozens of battle droids as he was being led to the bridge, where Grievous was waiting. As he arrived on the bridge while being flanked by two Magna droids, Grievous was standing in front of him, towering over him.

"Don't think you can just walk into my ship without being caught," said Grievous. "The only reason I have not killed you by now is because you led an attack against the Republic."

"Yes, I have a question. Where is Asajj Ventress?"

Grievous narrowed his eyes at Shadow, looking a little confused.

"She is gone." he said. "She is in the Outer Rim, where she will rot along with the rest of the filth living there."

"Wow, you are pretty harsh, for a droid." Shadow said.

Grievous looked at Shadow with a face that said, 'I'm going to kill you.'

"I am no droid!" Grievous yelled at Shadow.

"Are you sure?" said Shadow. "Your arms, legs, torso, and head are made of metal, so I'm assuming you are a droid."

"You know sir," a battle droid spoke. "He does have a point."

"Do not call me a droid!" Grievous drew his lightsaber and stabbed the battle droid, who dropped dead.

Grievous swung at Shadow, who ducked and rolled back behind the Magna droids, who drew their electrostaffs. Shadow drew his lightsaber, which surprised Grievous.

"Ah, I see why you are trying to find her, she killed your family, did she not?" said Grievous.

Shadow swung the lightsaber quickly at the Magna guard next to him and cut it's arm off. Grievous drew his four lightsabers and ran towards Shadow, who braced for impact. Grievous's lightsabers collided with Shadow's, causing Shadow to stumble back. Shadow stepped back and sung his lightsaber upwards at Grievous's left arms, severing both of them. He then turned around and ran back into the elevator and rode it down into the hangar area. When he got down, he dispatched some of the battle droids with his lightsaber and got in his ship.

_The Outer Rim then, _thought Shadow, and he took off.


End file.
